Again
by senga6
Summary: What is living? They thought that had the patience to out-wait forever, but forever is so very long... COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

"What is living?" he once asked her, a thoughtful look on his face.

Her CardCaptoring days were long since over, her days of motherhood was over as well, though wifehood had yet to end.

"Living?" she asked, settling back into her seat, vibrant green eyes staring at the wall.

"Living is dying. Living is beginning a dream, a blank book, a blank dream, something to fill with your heart. Living is freedom to do what you believe in. Living, perhaps, is destiny."

"Destiny," her husband mused, running a hand through his tousled brown, white-streaked hair.

"Maybe we'll meet again in another life, Sakura."

She smiled at him. "And then I'll ask you that very question, and you better answer correctly."

"Alright then."

* * *

_**Again**_

_For why do we live? Again and again, we live lives we will never remember, horrid choices we won't remember not to make again._

_Again and again, we live life… But what is living?_

_

* * *

_

"Who are you?" he asked softly, amber eyes specked with confusion and anger.

"You know," she told him. "You know. You just haven't remembered yet."

He sat on his throne, staring down at the old woman standing before him, the woman who had the audacity not to bow before the king.

She may have been beautiful, once upon a time. Vivid green eyes staring out underneath pure white hair, lines on her face depicting age, the firm set of her mouth that told of _knowing_.

"Then why don't I?" he asked her, feeling annoyance poking at him.

"Should you not ask yourself that question?" she said, her unnerving large eyes never tearing away from his.

"Why don't I?" he asked again.

"Because it was never meant to be, perhaps," she murmured, her eyes darkening with memories, her voice just loud enough so he could hear, just soft enough the guards behind the large doors couldn't.

"I am the king," he said. "Whatever I wish, should be."

"What is living?" she asked instead.

Li Syaoran, King of Tsubasa frowned, the familiarity of the question insistently prodding at him to hurry up and remember.

She waited, but when it became obvious that he would not remember, she bowed once and shuffled away.

She was getting too old for this.

Li Syaoran died at age 36 underneath all the stress of being king, sick out of his mind, happy knowing his kingdom was in his cousin Yamazaki's hands, as he had had no heir, nor a Queen.

Kinomoto Sakura, mysterious old woman, died at age 103, and never again did she visit her beloved.

* * *

"Do you remember?" she asked her best friend, the white ribbon that kept her hair up swinging in the wind along with her simple ponytail swishing in the wind.

"Remember what?" he asked back, eyes closed and laying on his back on top of the roof, feeling the wind dancing on his face.

"…Never mind," she said, sounding sad.

His eyes popped open and he sat up, looking at her, concerned.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he said.

"Really, it's nothing," she said, her color pencil green eyes flashing in annoyance.

"Let's go back in," he offered, smiling softly.

"Did you even study for that test we have next period, in Mrs. Daidouji's class?" she deadpanned, watching the cheerful expression on his face drop into horror with some satisfaction.

"Oh, cr-"

"No cursing," she reminded him.

"Right."

"What is living?" she asked him as they began gathering things from their adjacent lockers.

His expression was blank as he thought about it, something strange twisting in him.

The bell rang and Sakura turned to look at her best friend, and nothing more than that.

"Forget it," she said softly. "Now come on, we'll be late."

Later on, Li Syaoran would die at the age of 86, married to his high school sweetheart, Mei Lin, after living a simple life.

Kinomoto Sakura would at the age of 18, as the result of a freak car accident.

* * *

They met in a dark room, purposely designed that way to seem intimidating.

"Li Syaoran," he offered, a dark smirk dancing on his face.

A face she knew all too well.

"Kinomoto Sakura," she answered him.

An eyebrow was raised. "There have been many rumors surrounding you."

"As you," she replied calmly. Because if she didn't take this calmly, there was no chance he would remember.

"True," he agreed, dark amusement glittering in his gold orbs.

"Are we going to get down to business, then?" she asked him coolly, her emotion-dead eyes concentrating on him and only him.

"Let's," he said ever so graciously with a dramatic swing of his arm as he pulled out a chair for her.

"One more thing, before we start this," she said, drowning out the other noises as people in the room began discussing, her world crashing down on her as she stared at him.

"Yes, m'lady?" he asked, the smirk reappearing.

"What, do you believe, is living?" she said, her dark green eyes searching his for answers.

He tapped a finger on his chin, a bad habit he had gotten from someone. Maybe Eriol, that irritating right-hand man and best friend of his. Perhaps even Touya, that annoying business associate he had. Why was everyone he knew annoying?

But the whispers had quieted down all too soon, and he had no time to answer, to think a bit further on the subject. So he pushed the idea to the back of his mind, not realizing how important it was, and focused on the deal they were about to make.

"Let's begin."

Li Syaoran, the most successful businessman in the world, had died at 51 after being shot in the heart by his right-hand man.

Kinomoto Sakura died at age 26 after watching her business rise and die.

* * *

"Magic," the professor had announced, looking amused at all the eager faces, "is rare. So completely, utterly rare that the government is giving you special classes. You, with all the luck in the world."

By luck, if he had said bad luck, he would have been completely accurate. The government was rounding magic-users in herds and brainwashing all the young ones. Literally brainwashing the older ones, so they would forget all the horrors they had dealt to them.

It had been quite easy to turn back time for herself, turning herself back into an eleven year old child, and her acting skills were perfect for the job. It was easy to act the clueless, innocent little kid that wouldn't harm a soul.

She had killed far too many for the children's freedom.

"Class dismissed," the professor said and the rush for the door was just like a regular school's, though none of them would ever be normal by the end of the year.

She, however, stayed behind.

"May I help you somehow, Ms. Avalon?" he asked kindly.

He had been one of those literally brainwashed. She had been so very, very close…

"Professor Clow," she said innocently, turning her large green eyes on him, "what is living?"

A tiny little crease appeared in-between his eyebrows. "Is this another one of your philosophical questions, Sakura?"

She merely smiled at him, deigning neither to confirm or contradict him.

He leaned back on his desk, wondering why his star student would ask such a thing. Such a strange, strange question to ask him.

A few moments passed before she stood up, smile still in place.

"Never mind, Professor," she said, and he watched her leave the classroom.

Kinomoto Sakura, alias Sakura Avalon, would die in the body of a 16 year old, while in mind, she was actually 25. She would die fighting against the government, fighting to free the magic-users.

Li Syaoran, mentally and on record, died at age 21, after being captured by the government. Professor Clow, however, died at age 93 because of old age, blissfully ignorant and unaware of who he was before.

* * *

_I've messed up again,_ she thought dryly.

She sat there, watching all her past lives with some self-pity, wondering why the only time she had gotten this damn thing right was the first time, why she could get so _close_ but couldn't get past the finish line.

"Maybe," she murmured, looking down at the blank dream before her, the one she was going to live soon.

"Maybe he'll remember this time. What it means to _live_. And maybe I'll get this stupid thing right."

She closed her eyes one last time, drifting into a new life, a new path with so many possibilities, another chance. She wouldn't give up, not until she'd finally gotten what she wanted.

_Again. Let's live this dream again._

_

* * *

_

_This endless cycle of living, unable to remember how you lived, pointlessly going on and on… Different circumstances, different outcomes._

_Tell me. What is living?_

_

* * *

_

*laughs* This is some kind of odd mix between Dreams of Death and Free Flyte… Also inspired by Recycle_, _by ForeverFalling86, the best Bleach oneshot I have ever read. That was just _wow_. Recommended.

Note: Happy birthday to me! *cheers* It's my birthday~~ ^_^ I also have some more ideas for other lives… should I write them?


	2. Chapter 2

"Just this once…" she murmured softly, tears streaking down her cheek.

"Please…"

She cried, cried, cried for all that could have been, cried that hadn't been, cried for things that would have been.

Cried for the bloodied face of Li Syaoran, amber eyes dark and blank, body limp and cold.

Underneath the rain, within her shivering body, she suffered.

"_Why?_" she screamed up to the heavens. "_Why will you not give me this one happiness I have been longing for a millennium?_"

And as her tears mingled with the rain splashing on her cheek, she closed her eyes and wished, for the first time, that she would hurry up and die.

* * *

_**Again**_

_Hello, good-bye, let's hope to meet again._

_The soul tires after so many years of feelings, the brain suffers from too many memories. Which is better, which is worse?_

_

* * *

_

Everything was white in a hospital. It symbolized purity, maybe hope.

It was disgusting.

Sakura stared at the _white_ wall disgustedly, bitterness coating her eyes.

She was tired, tired, _tired_. Maybe… maybe it was time to give up. She was just far too tired to continue this tirade, hoping before her world crashed all over again.

Maybe she would have to be satisfied of getting the elusive Li Syaoran once in her many lifetimes.

It would have been so much easier to do so if he would just stop. Appearing. In. Her. Life!

She was already in her thirties, many wondering why she didn't get herself married already, as it wasn't as though there weren't people who liked her. She was a very likable person, if she could say so herself. But… all those she dated, her mind imagined another person in front of her, taking her out.

Everything had gone downhill soon.

Tomoyo, her beloved sister, getting crippled, still in a coma. Her father's death. Losing her job in the midst of mourning. And she couldn't even pay for her sister's much needed operation.

Someone cleared their throat, and she looked up before cursing violently in her mind.

Of all the nurses and doctors to send to see her, it had to be _him_.

"Ms. Kinimoto?"

Sakura watched him warily, not wanting another heartbreak.

"…Yes?"

His face was schooled into a mask of indifference, though she and she alone could see behind it, to the pitying look in his eyes.

"I'm sorry to say this, but as we were waiting for the money for your sister's operation, she passed on."

The silence, how it was deafening. How she wanted to curl into a ball and forget the world, forget _everything_. This, this life of hers, the time she had spent with her sister in this life, it was far too quick, everything was happening so _fast_. Wasn't it supposed to go slower, as everything hit her like a ton of bricks?

"…Is that so."

She didn't even have the money for a proper burial.

"Thank you for telling me."

That was a lie.

"Can I…" Sakura cleared her throat as her voice cracked suddenly, mentally berating herself for being so weak, "…can I see her?"

"Of course."

Five days later, she had burned her sister's body and spreading the ashes across the forest they used to visit when they were little and still had parents. Then, she burned the house of Kinomoto down to the ground.

One day after doing so, she killed herself, painting the ground with her blood.

Kinomto Sakura was thirty-one. Li Syaoran would later on hear of this story, and feel so guilty to the point he took his life as well at age thirty-three.

* * *

Time moved forward for mortals; apparently, that was not so for the unmovable force of fate and destiny, what was meant to _be_.

No, not even those goddesses that believed themselves so high and able to choose a man's fate. They were the ones being dictated through the true fate.

The mortals called her Hestia, as did her brothers and sisters. Goddess of the hearth and home, she was often forgotten and blended into the background.

Ah, her brother Zeus, once upon a time (though that didn't seem right, as they lived both further into the past and further into the future) known as Li Syaoran, and known that in most of their lives.

The gods were as fickle as the mortals. Hera, jealous little Tomoyo, never suspected that the reason she had sworn an oath of chastity was because of her playboy husband. How those two had gotten together and stayed together was a mystery to her.

Because she didn't want to be lured into the trap his golden eyes offered.

She was a well-loved goddess, though she didn't have nearly as many stories to offer as her family members. Aphrodite; how in the world did Rika become such a kind person later on in life? Or, perhaps, how did she become such a flirty goddess? She certainly was beautiful enough for the job of the goddess, but it was unbelievable that Rika was… that.

However, no one looked at Hestia with hate and anger because of petty squabbles. She was the calm one, the one no one suspected of being the most troubled.

Sometimes, it was hard to remember things, how things would come to be, what had happened in each and every of her lives. And that was more frightening than anything else.

Syaoran was her _brother_. Oh, how wrong it felt. How people married family in this age! Yet, she was still completely in love with him…

Hestia, Zeus, Aphrodite, Hera, and all other gods and goddesses would disappear when the Greek civilization died down, and the belief in them was down to nothing.

* * *

Ying Fa she was in body.

Kinomoto Sakura she was at heart.

Concubine of the Emperor.

Sakura wanted to retch. Her? Concubine? Emperor? The emperor being _Eriol_?

That was just scarring in so many ways.

Syaoran, this time, was probably somewhere she would never find him. A peasant living a simple life, hopefully.

Eriol didn't seem very interested in women, luckily for her. He was far more interested in his work, in being a good Emperor to the Chinese people.

She was relaxing in the library, passing men sending her the most disbelieving looks she had ever seen on a face. As a woman, they believed she should be out in the garden flaunting her good looks or getting laid. Sakura, quite frankly, shuddered at both thoughts.

The books in the vast library were far more appealing than the other two options.

Maybe she could take the civil service exams, sneaking underneath the guise of a man. Not like poor Eriol would notice her disappearance, nor would anyone else care. There were just too many concubines offered up to the Emperor for anyone to keep track of everyone, not to mention Eriol himself.

"It's unusual to see a woman sitting in the library, peacefully reading a book," a kind voice remarked.

Sakura looked up to meet up to see who would be known as Tsukishiro Yukito, know most probably known as Yue.

"Thank you," she replied, smiling softly.

"You're welcome," he said, smiling back at her, sitting down across from her.

"You don't mind if I sit here, do you?"

"Of course not."

"And if I may be as blunt to do so, may I ask your name?"

"An Ying Fa. And you?"

He colored softly and Sakura realized how she had gotten a crush on him in one of her lives.

"Ah, that was terribly impolite of me, was it not?" he murmured, looking rather embarrassed. "I am Yue Liang."

"Moonlight," she mused. "And your family name?"

"Tu."

_Rabbit?_ she wondered, an amused smile playing by her lips, remember how Yukito had meant 'snow bunny'.

"You'll probably know my brother better," Yukito, now Yue Liang, continued on. "He's a general. Tu Yue Ying."

Sakura had, indeed, heard of Yue Ying. A name opposite of Yue Liang, meaning moon shadow. Shadow was a very good description for her future guardian. Not completely dark, not completely light; a fitting name for a judge.

"Would you happen to be that new concubine sent by the An family?" he asked, not meaning any harm.

"Yes." Her reply was short, bitter, sharp.

Yukito, Yue Liang, whoever he was, seemed to realize that this wasn't a subject to pursue, and they quickly turned to other subjects, finding himself impressed with the girl's knowledge.

Sakura would, eventually, marry him, and die happy for the first time in so many lives, though she never burdened him with the knowledge of what she knew.

She died at 65, Yukito following her soon enough.

Li Syaoran, unknown peasant, rose to a general while Sakura still lived, but they never met, and he died in a squabble against a rebelling family.

* * *

"Sakura-sama. Lead us."

Those words were what lead her to this; leadership of a tribe deep into a forest no one but they themselves knew.

"Stranger, why might you be here?" she asked, knowing perfectly well why he was here. He had gotten lost, just as she had.

He gave her a sheepish grin. "Erm… I got lost."

Sakura threw back her head and laughed, forest green eyes sparkling with mirth.

"At least you're honest. Eriol, aren't you?"

The grin lowered into an expression of shock. "H- how did you know that?"

"She knows everything!" a little girl in the back piped up, dirt brown eyes filled with admiration. "Sakura-sama knows everything about everyone and everything, figured out all of the forest's secrets before we did, knows all about medicines, knows how to keep the annoying foreigners away, knows _everything_!"

Eriol whistled, looking rather amazed himself. "You figured out this forest? It's huge!"

"Listen to the earth," she replied with a serene smile, "and you will find your answers."

"And she doesn't reply to your questions at all," grumbled a ruby-eyed girl around Sakura's age.

"So it's true," Eriol wondered out loud. "That there is a woman deep in the forest, leading a group of forest people infamous for hating 'foreigners' who was a 'foreigner' herself who knows all and everything."

Sakura groaned, twisting a lock of her auburn hair in a strange habit she had picked up in the years. "I don't actually know everything."

"Yes you do," was the immediate reply from all in the vicinity.

Sakura rolled her eyes and turned to Eriol. "You are welcome to stay, but be careful of overstaying your stay. The forest will not tolerate strangers forever."

"Are you speaking of yourself as well?" he asked, and from the look in his eyes Sakura reassured herself that it was here curiosity coming from him. Though, that knowing look in his eyes was far too familiar for comfort. Had her father spoken to him?

"The forest and only the forest can answer that," she said, inwardly smirking at the frustrated look people from all sides were giving her.

"Oh, and your friend can come out," she added, keeping her smile on.

The familiar form of Li Syaoran came to light, looking surprised, obviously not expecting she would spot him.

"…You truly are amazing," he murmured, eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"Thank you." And Sakura truly meant it, sincerity in her voice. She had not spoken to her lost love in her past fifty lives. They had never met… or she had gone to great lengths to avoid him.

Because it was _painful_. Painful to know he was there, a symbol of her crumbling world and times she would rather not remember, wanting to keep her fake happiness close to her heart.

Perhaps it was time to try again.

"The same applies to you."

"I'll be sure not to overstay, my lady," he said, a teasing glint in his amber eyes, bowing dramatically.

"Be sure not to." She sniffed just as dramatically and left with specific orders to her tribe members of keeping their guests happy.

Just because she was giving him another chance, it didn't mean she wasn't going to give him a hard time about it. This time, Sakura hoped, she could finally properly fall in love with, and vice versa.

Her hope, just this once, came true, and they lived through generations and generations, before the forest decided their time was up, and they fell asleep to wonderful dreams, never to wake up again. Their children's children burned their bodies and scattered their ashes throughout the forest, so they could forever live and grow with the forest.

* * *

"…_I've missed you."_

"_Hah, sorry about that."_

"_You should be."_

"_It's my turn to forget this next millennium or so, hmm?"_

"_Yeah… And I swear I'll make you remember before you managed to."_

"_You wanna bet?"_

"_With what?"_

"_Good point."_

"…_You think we'll be all right this time?"_

"_Hai. Zettai daijoubu da yo."_

_

* * *

_

Hey! So here's the second part of Again. Does anyone still want me to continue? .


	3. Chapter 3

"Did you know?" he once asked her, his mouth twitching into a half-smile half-grimace, eyes filled with bitter mirth, "That I once loved a girl."

Sakura looked at him, surprised, and he wondered if he loved the innocently green eyes, or the worn out ones that at least _knew_ him.

"Really? But- when did this happen? I've been your best friend since _forever_, and I don't remember you ever getting a girlfriend."

"Not quite a girlfriend," he told her, thinking, _Once upon a time my wife_.

Sakura gasped. "She didn't _reject_ you, did she?"

"No," Syaoran said immediately. "It… it was my fault.

"I… hadn't remembered her."

* * *

_**Again**_

_Choices, choices, it's a lose-lose situation that'll have you tumbling down a cliff either goddamned way._

_Too many decisions to make, too many falls already._

* * *

Her beloved land of Egypt was a warm place, sand that covered the ground for as far as the eye could see, and her entire world.

Then, of course, that boy came along into her life, dragging her into so many troublesome situations.

"Syaoran!" she complained, glaring at him. "You're going to get us in trouble again, aren't you?"

He smirked at her, amused by her huff of anger. "What do you think?"

She groaned loudly, rolling her eyes and let herself be dragged around by him.

He was the Pharaoh's son, something revered, but she didn't know that, and wouldn't have to. That is, until he finally married her.

They were special. Names that didn't fit properly in another world far away from Japan, and yet somehow they had gotten the same names as they had kept before. Somehow, Syaoran felt as though fate was mocking him. Fate, destiny, whatever.

Everything had gone downhill from there.

He had brought her to a secluded spot, sitting high above her town, and overlooked miles and miles of sand and beauty.

"Wow," Sakura remarked, looking dazed by both the climb and sight.

"Yeah," Syaoran agreed, and a comfortable silence sat between them.

"It's beautiful."

There were no more words exchanged after that, and Syaoran wondered when he could gather the courage to tell her that he was the Pharaoh's son, not some random passerby that had soon become her best friend. If he couldn't even tell her _that_, then what chance did he have of making her remember?

"…Sakura?"

She turned to him, a questioning look in her eyes as they walked down to her town again, the sun a red-orange, giving the sand a fiery look as night crept along.

"What is living?"

"Living?" she repeated, the strangest look crossing her face. "Living… it is-"

But that was all she could say before a sword was stuck into her back and through her heart, fear present in her green eyes as she sent one last desperate look to him before her body sent limp. Millions of thoughts rushed through Syaoran's head, thinking that everything was happening too fast, and so there could be no way that his precious had died so quickly. He, however, focused on the one instinct that came first to his mind; _protect, kill those who touched what was his_.

_Desert bandits, desert thieves_.

Sakura died at age 17, killed by the desert thieves and bandits that would be completely obliterated by the Pharaoh's son.

Syaoran, the Pharaoh's son, would be made Pharaoh a few days later, and ruled a reign of peace, something he hadn't been able to give _her_.

* * *

"White Man, what is it that you want?"

It was the age of exploration, the age of destruction and disaster for the Native Americans.

Syaoran was something of a revered person in European countries. He and his band of Asian (mostly Japanese, though a few Chinese) people that had come to Europe, and had become famous for being the only Asians to explore along with the Portuguese and Spanish.

"Adsila," he greeted the famous Native American tribe leader, her name meaning blossom.

"Li Syaoran," she greeted him back, "leader of my people's destroyers."

He stared into furious green eyes, wondering what had he done to deserve such hate. He certainly hadn't been like that Cortés fellow.

"What is it you want?" she hissed, her arms still spread in a symbol of her protection of her people. Distantly, Syaoran marveled at how well her Japanese was, and it was rumored that she could speak Spanish, Portuguese, English, and many other tribal languages just as well as her native language.

"Do you wish to chase the rumors of gold?" she spat out, eyes flashing underneath the sunlight, her lightly tanned skin gleaming. "Well, too bad, you're too late. I've already given away all that we've had to protect my people, and you'll have to kill me before you take my people to be slaves."

"I'm not here to take your people," he told her.

"How can I believe you?" she snarled. "They've all said that, each and every single one of people like you, trying to buy me over with charming smiles and mere offers of peace, while their actions showed something completely different."

"How am I supposed to convince you if you won't give me a chance?"

"Leave," one girl murmured in an accent. "Leave, no come back. You make Adsila, sister, unhappy." Syaoran spared her a glance and realization hit him. That was _Tomoyo_.

They were sisters again in this life…

"We no trust anymore," another girl said, and this time it didn't take Syaoran as long to recognize the girl as someone that had been in his life before. _Meiling_. Was her entire tribe filled with girls he'd once known?

"Give me a chance," he insisted. "I promise I won't hurt any of you."

A sharp, bitter laugh echoed through the small clearing. "Can I believe you? I've trusted all the ones that had come before you, and each time it was that that had become my downfall. I can't trust anymore, I've lost too many sisters and brothers for that. We have no men left in our tribe because they took them all away."

"A chance," he insisted again. "I'll give you all our weapons; just let us stay for awhile."

Sakura, Adsila, sighed, looking tired as she seemed to go through an internal conflict. To trust again, or to never trust again.

"…Promise?" she murmured, and Syaoran realized how pitiful, _weak_ she sounded in that one sentence, a million insecurities sitting right there.

"I promise."

"One chance," she reminded him. "Anything unsatisfactory, I reserve the right to kick you out."

"Deal," he agreed before turning back to his men, gesturing to drop their weapons into a pile and enter. Yamazaki, Eriol, and Touya did so without question, Meiling and Tomoyo sending them suspicious looks. The rest of his men had a few protests, but after a sharp glance their protests fell silent and they followed.

It had been maybe a month and they were properly in love when he'd left temporarily to explore a little bit. He did not, however, expect to come back to ruins of what had once been a homely little place.

All the women, it seemed, were killed, instead of being brought into slavery. Cradling Sakura's limp body in his arms, he realized that she had probably been the first to go, after taking a few of the 'white men' with her. This was just as she wanted; to protect her tribe, and not have anymore taken as slaves.

Syaoran cried, along with many of his men, many of which had also fallen in love with a few of the tribe members.

Adsila, Sakura, was 24 when murdered. Li Syaoran would die at the age of 49, having lost the will to live.

* * *

"What're you doing?" she asked, cocking her head to the side as she watched his wings flutter in alarm.

"A human," he remarked calmly. "But a mere child."

The other fairy looked in the same direction he was and saw the girl.

"-Can I keep her?" she asked innocently.

"No."

She laughed quietly, but it rang throughout the circle. Many a fairy turned to see their king watching his cousin with annoyance.

"Tomoyo, don't you _dare_," he hissed at her. "Keep your children-stealing tendencies down tonight."

"Foolish child," she said instead. "To venture so near a fairy ring, on All Hallow's Eve no less! Not to mention the full moon tonight."

"You know it is against my beliefs to punish a child that has barely learned to speak," he said, sending another glare her way.

"I know," she smirked, "and I obey."

"She's a beautiful child," Tomoyo remarked after moments of silence. "Pure and innocent unlike any other of those mortals."

"She is," he murmured quietly and Tomoyo sent him a worried look before understanding washed it all away.

"She's the one."

"Yes," he agreed, a bitter look on his face. "But we can never be – for our worlds are far too different."

"Many fairies have married humans," she reminded him in a chiding tone.

"My oaths prevent me from doing such a thing and you know it."

Tomoyo turned away from her cousin to greet the tiny mortal that had just entered the fairy circle, giving cause to laughter in the ring.

"Welcome, Sakura!" she sang, smiling at the bewildered girl. "Innocent One, count yourself lucky."

"Who are you?" she asked, a few fairies remarking how beautiful her green eyes were and much they wanted to keep her.

"Tonight, I will be your friend," Tomoyo said, smoothing back a stray strand of auburn hair, bringing the color of the sun into the night.

"Tonight, you will see the world no mortal would be allowed to see without punishment."

Laughter rang throughout the night, small fairy lanterns lighting up the largest fairy ring of the time, a Great Oak near, offering homes and protection.

The sky was lightening and all the fairies realized it was time to return home. A few kissed Sakura on the cheek as they passed by, another laugh that sounded like silver bells echoing in her ears ringing out that simply had to belong to Tomoyo.

"Sakura, dear, would you like to dance with my cousin?"

Syaoran, who had been hiding in the shadows all night, was visibly surprised as Tomoyo pushed him towards the little girl.

Syaoran, a tinge of red staining his cheeks, bowed down low to the girl. "Would you like to dance with me, my lady?"

Sakura laughed quietly, and like Tomoyo's laugh, hers was of bells, soft and golden.

"Of course, milord," she said, curtsying perfectly and mimicking a lady's tone of voice.

Though he was far taller than her, the dance worked as Sakura suddenly grew taller. He shot Tomoyo a withering glare as she sniggered in the background.

"I'm bigger," she remarked mildly and he cracked a smile.

"Yes, you are."

The dance was magical and solitary and silent as they danced until the sun had just passed the horizon and the fairy's reign over the night was over, giving way to the mortal's hold on the day.

"Sweet dreams," he whispered as she reverted back to her smaller form and gave way to the tiredness that had all but disappeared during the night.

Kinomoto Sakura would never again meet King Syaoran of the fairies, though he would watch her until her mortal life ended at the amazing age of 97, having been blessed by the fairies.

King Syaoran's reign would end when he died, no one quite sure his age when he passed away after so many centuries of living, though his reign would be forgotten and covered by the many Queens.

* * *

She greeted him with a smile and he did the same.

She was sitting on a branch of a tree that loomed high over the rest of the forest. The moon shone down on her, giving her skin an ethereal glow and Syaoran realized what she was.

_Moon sylph._

His opposite.

"What brings you out into the night, Sun Nisse?"

"The mortals are taking over the hours in which were once my time," he said mournfully. "I have no choice but to come out during your time."

"That's quite fine," she said with another smile, green eyes seeing far beyond just him. "Mere curiosity, you know."

"Would you happen to be known by the name of Sakura?" he asked rather abruptly and she looked at him contemplatively.

"What of it?"

"Mere curiosity," he answered with a smile and the sides of her mouth quirked up in amusement as well.

"You and I both know that speaking a sylph's true name aloud is dangerous," she scolded.

"I must have sounded so rude," he agreed before standing up and bowing. "My apologies. I am known as Syaoran, the Sun Nisse."

"Little wolf?" she asked, laughing quietly. "Here I was, thinking that wolves were creatures of the night."

"Perhaps a bit of both," he admitted.

She didn't answer, but instead raised her eyes to the moon. It was a mere sliver that night, but at least it was something. During the new moon, Moon Slyphs were powerless, but when angered even more deadly.

"Sun Nisse, our time is over."

Somehow, Syaoran felt as though she was speaking of something else.

"May we meet again."

The night sky melted away into the day and Syaoran slept through what had been his time to wake and live, as Sakura disappeared along with the night.

Though Syaoran would spend much of his time on the top branches of that tree, they never were to meet again. And when Syaoran woke up the following night, he realized that he hadn't gotten the chance to ask her the question.

"_What is living?_"

* * *

He was at the starting point, the starting line of a new life. And he wondered how Sakura had felt, looking down at all the mistakes one had made and never realized.

It was all a mixture of murmurs and whispers, swirling memories of all colors. Chaotic yet orderly, repulsive yet alluring.

A new life, another chance, he thought determinedly. He was going to have to do it right one of these times.

A wave of images, bundles of incoherent thoughts, washed through him and he hoped that it would be this time he got it right.

_Once more, my friend. One more time._

* * *

_Magic, beauty, love, what is manipulated and what is not, the sands of time are falling, waiting for no man._

_Again and again, closer and retreating, let's do this again._

* * *

I, personally, liked the third life in this chapter best. ^_^


	4. Chapter 4

He was tired.

He wouldn't cry, wouldn't break down, because if he did, that would've meant he had given up. Suddenly, he realized how brave his little Sakura was, to face all this with a smile.

To watch a loved one fall in love with another.

He smiled, but it was a tired one, and even though he had taken all the energy he could muster it came out fake-looking.

"I pronounce you husband and wife!"

He clapped along with the rest, looking at Sakura's happy smile and Eriol's just as cheerful one, wondering what had he done to deserve this.

* * *

_**Again**_

_Everyone has their past, something that helped shaped them to become what they are now, something that may seem insignificant that may have twisted their lives._

_What could be, what was, what is, what will be.

* * *

_

"Cherry," she introduced herself.

"Blossom," he corrected and smirked at her glare.

"Cherry!" she insisted again.

"Whatever you say, Blossom." Sakura fumed at him and he merely laughed. Others in their group shook their heads knowingly at the two, thinking one day, those two were going to get married and _stay_ married. Unlike the rest of the world.

"Tomoyo's already Blossom," Sakura argued.

"Well, she can just be called Violet than."

"Cherry."

"You can't argue very well, can you?"

Sakura looked as though she was going to scream, and hurriedly Eriol interrupted.

"Let's not argue about code names, shall we? Sakura can be Cherry Blossom, Tomoyo can be Violet."

Syaoran and Sakura thought about it, the former agreeing after a few moments' thought, the latter reluctantly agreeing as well.

"I can pull seniority over you if I want," Sakura hissed at Syaoran as she walked past him, but he merely smiled and let her pass.

"All right guys." Sakura let out a sigh, closing her eyes. When she reopened them, they were the familiar, mischievous, green they all knew.

"Moon, report."

Eriol stood up, coughing into his fist quietly before starting.

"The Mermaid's Pearl is going to be at town hall next Monday," he said. "From 8 o'clock in the morning to 5 o'clock in the afternoon, it will be showcased there. Then, it'll move on to the next town."

"Moon, you can sit," Sakura commanded and he did so.

"Violet? Your turn."

Tomoyo with a graceful swish of her skirts stood up, smiling lightly. "The question is, should we go after it or not. Would there be a point in stealing it? Yes. The government is keeping an especially close watch on it, for some strange reason. It could very well be what we're looking for."

Sakura leaned back, green eyes narrowed in thought.

"I say we do it."

"Agreed," the entire table chorused. Syaoran, however, frowned.

"You guys do know that I don't want to be Crown Prince, right?"

"You can shut up now while you're at it, Princey," Sakura said flippantly. Syaoran ignored her.

"We don't exactly_ need_ to overthrow the throne."

"Yes, we do," Sakura hissed, looking annoyed. "We've been through this a million times. Your half-brother is an absolutely jerk who wouldn't be polite if his life depended on it, and is a freaking PERVERT!"

Tomoyo winced, knowing that Sakura had an encounter with the current King that hadn't ended so well…

"It's true," Eriol sighed. "You know just as well as we do that our country is doomed if we don't kick your brother out of such a high position, soon. He's just a puppet for the council, anyways, and he doesn't care what they want him to do as long as he has money, a big house, lots of servants, and, well… you get the idea."

"The thing they're sending out is probably a fake," Syaoran argued. "It might not be the heirloom my mother left for me to prove I'm the rightful Crown Prince."

"Probably," Sakura said calmly, "is not certain. If there is a chance, we will take it."

"You guys could get killed!" Syaoran snarled, looking frustrated.

"If I die," she said, standing up, green eyes narrowed even further than before, "it will be after I have returned you to your rightful place, Prince Syaoran."

She bowed and left the room with a resounding smack to the doors. They swung back and forth, and Syaoran watched them swing.

"She wants to help you," Tomoyo murmured softly, nodding at Chiharu who had waved at the two of them. "That's all she's ever wanted to do, ever since we were kids and you stood up for her against those bullies."

"She's not helping me by risking her life," Syaoran hissed. Tomoyo merely offered him a sad smile.

"She will do whatever she can, if she thinks it will help you, no matter what your feelings or thoughts on it."

Tomoyo left the room with those words. Syaoran sat down on a near chair, wondering why his life was so complicated this time.

~:~*~:~

"_Sakura!_" he shouted over the explosions, and she shot him a quick glance before nodding.

Stealing, these days, were a lot less subtle because of the new technology offered by scientists. It would've been a good thing – if it were helping them, that is.

He scowled at he brought down another guard and reached to touch the Mermaid's Pearl, if that was even its true name.

The moment he touched it, he could practically feel his blood boiling and the pearl blinded everyone in the room with its merciless white glow. It was his heirloom, his proof he was the rightful King, he thought distantly, still feeling dazed.

The guards immediately dropped to their knees, bowing, as his Resistance Group.

"Li-sama!" The words echoed in the room and in his head.

"Rise," he said, his voice regal and commanding.

"Tell me, where is my half-brother?" he asked one guard, looking nervous under his unrelenting amber eyes.

"The K- err, imposter, is at the castle, Li-sama," the man squeaked, and Syaoran realized that he wasn't even a man, perhaps a tall boy maybe 18.

"This is a civil war," he told him, "no place for one like you. You are too young."

The boy nodded and Syaoran took his eyes off of him, to instead look at Sakura's lithe form.

"Are you alright?" he asked softly.

She gave him a reassuring smile. "I- "

It was the second time Sakura had been stabbed right before his eyes, and Syaoran watched a sword stick itself through her body with morbid fascination.

"…Sakura?" he said, and his voice was pathetic and weak.

"My Prince," she breathed out, laughing breathless laughs. "It seems I won't be living long to watch you ascend the throne."

"This can't be happening," Syaoran muttered, not noticing how Tomoyo had dropped to Sakura's side and Eriol finished off Sakura's murderer, the boy that Syaoran had just been speaking to.

"Tomoyo, it's no use, you can't heal me," Sakura chided gently. "I'm already half-way through the realm of the dead." She turned to Syaoran, who had tears in his eyes.

"This is a nice way to die," she told him. "Dying for you."

He shook his head in denial but stopped when a cold finger touched his cheek.

"Do what you do best," she said. "Take command. Save the people. Right?"

He nodded this time, and she smiled at him.

"Go, then, and do that."

Kinomoto Sakura, code name Cherry Blossom, leader of the Resistance Group, died at the age of 29.

Li Syaoran would reign at the age of 30, and this reign was eerily reminiscent of his time as the Pharaoh. He would live for another 7 years before passing the throne to Eriol, who would later on marry Tomoyo.

* * *

Sakura let the bow held in her right hand slide down the violin tucked underneath her chin. The violin sang a soft, sweet note.

"We're here," a light voice said. Sakura smiled.

"Is that so, Tomoyo?"

"You know the drill," her friend said with an answering smile. "This town's mayor is Yamazaki-san, remember him? We won't have any trouble playing here, unlike the last one."

Sakura grimaced at that memory. Nakuru-san, a good friend of Eriol's, was the mayor, but she had a tendency to glomp, which proved hard for Sakura to play the violin as another weight was hanging onto her.

"Let's go then," she said, jumping off the caravan, Tomoyo following soon thereafter.

"Syaoran's already at the stage," Tomoyo told her, keeping up with her fast pace. "Eriol's talking to Yamazaki and you know how the both of them are like." They smiled in unison at the memories from years before, as the two had found they hit off with the other with amazing understanding.

"All we need to do is pass out the fliers and post them around then, right?" Sakura murmured, looking thoughtful.

"I'll do that," Tomoyo told her with a wink. "You can go visit your _precious_ Syao-chan, hmm?"

Sakura blushed, but went the direction of what she remembered to be the stage anyways. Tomoyo laughed quietly.

"But… it's really too bad," she murmured, a glint of something like regret in her eyes. "I don't want to do this, but I have no choice, Sakura-chan…"

~:~*~:~

"Are we ready?" Syaoran asked Eriol.

"I am, and I'm pretty sure the girls are."

Sakura just happened to look at them then and nodded, signaling she and Tomoyo were ready as well.

"One, two, ready, _go!_"

The light strains of Syaoran's guitar floated through the air, many of the audience settling back into their seats for something they heard would be stunning, by those who remembered their appearance in this very town so many years ago.

Eriol began gently pushing down a few keys of his piano, his part of the music settling in with Syaoran's easily, balancing each other out.

The music grew heavy, almost somber, before Tomoyo's flute rang out. High and sweet, her instrument was quiet, yet it was loud and clear.

Sakura settled the violin underneath her chin in its usual position, holding it with her left hand, and the right hand settled the bow on the violin's strings. The other three continued playing, letting the music grow by in itself.

Then… She drew the bow down, letting out a long, clear note. All fell silent except for Sakura's violin. The music was soft, earnest, melancholic, a twisted, beautiful masterpiece on its own.

At one point, the other three instruments had joined in with the violin, and the ending was soft, unexpected, as if eternity had come all too soon.

A moment of silence as their audience savored the music before the applause started. Sakura let out a sigh, smiling at Syaoran's smile as well.

That was the last either would remember of that life as a bomb was set off right on stage, killing everything near the bomb for two miles.

Tomoyo had whispered something to Eriol before the bomb was set off, something so quiet Eriol had thought he had only imagined it.

_Gomennasai, there was no other choice_.

All four of them were 29, and the notable Yamazaki was the same age as them, along with his wife Chiharu.

Tomoyo had kill them all, for a dark reason that would never be known underneath the skies of any life.

* * *

Sakura was a necromancer. What was, supposedly, a black magic.

_Wrong_. Necromancy was raising the dead for divination purposes, not for taking over the world, mua ha ha. At least, that was what she had told him.

It, seemed, however, that it did get annoying when the dead bothered her.

"Shut up!" she snarled at a particularly persistent ghost. The ghost merely smiled at her before continuing on about something or the other.

Li Syaoran, the ghost had introduced himself. Who had been the king of the very land she walked on a thousand years ago.

Supposedly, according to her. She didn't quite believe him.

"You know," he said suddenly, "I don't think you should go to the next village. They don't particularly like… necromancers."

"Which village does?" she grumbled darkly, though her heart had dropped again, part of her feeling miserable at the misguided hate.

"No, as in they test you for necromancy before burning you at the stake, whether you actually are a necromancer or not," he said, looking worried.

Sakura looked down at her bag, hanging limply at her side.

"We… I don't have any food left," she murmured. "I won't be able to survive walking to one more town…"

"You'll be killed there!" he said, looking almost angry this time. "I've talked to the ghosts of others that had died there, all innocent. Except, maybe this time they'll actually have killed a necromancer, as they've aimed to."

"I'll either die or die, then," Sakura said bluntly. "Wonderful."

"I'm sure you'll be able to walk to the next town," he said. "It's better than being burned at the stake!"

"Syaoran, you know as well as I do that I take risks. You know what I'm going to do."

He glared at her, frustrated, wondering why she wouldn't listen to him.

"You'll be _burned at the stake_," he hissed. "Is that worth it? Feeling yourself burn, feeling the fire burn away at your skin, as you become a pile of ashes while living?"

"It will take another week to find the next town," she said. "I only have enough food for two days, and that's a meal per day with barely a crumb of bread and a cup of water. I won't be able to last that long."

He sighed. "Do what you will. It's not as though I can stop you."

Which was why he was currently watching her burn. He'd never more particularly hated being a ghost, being unable to physically touch anything, not able to untie her _even though he was right there_.

Ghostly tears slipped down his cheek and she smiled at him.

"I take risks," she whispered over the crackle of fire. "It was bound to backfire on me one day."

Kinomoto Sakura would burn at the stake at age 34 as King Syaoran I watched her, unable to do anything as much as he wanted to.

* * *

Eriol had directed him to the market to buy some food for the both of them, which was why Syaoran was out here in the market underneath the burning sun. Trying to stifle the urge to murder Eriol when he got back, he shifted the bags of groceries before something pink caught his eye.

A tiny little sign sitting outside a tiny little place. _Fortunetelling…?_ Syaoran thought, intrigued, a tiny part of him remembering another girl that had been particularly good at predicting the future.

So he entered the room through the doors, groceries forgotten momentarily as he stared at the fortuneteller sitting at a small chair, green eyes peering underneath a white cloaked hood. When he realized he was being rather rude, he blushed a soft red, and then put the groceries down gratefully, happy that the dingy little place at least had air conditioning. Especially if she was wearing such a heavy cloak. The room was dimly lit with a few candles here and there, but other than that was decorated in all sorts of colors, however the darker colors seemed more prominent, giving off a dark feeling.

He sat in the chair in front of her and she gave him a brief smile. She rustled through something in her cloak, before she took out a deck of familiar pink cards. Suddenly, she flung her hand out to the side, the cards forming a circle around her. The candlelight flickered, but soon came back with full force.

"What is your question, you under fate's hand?"

Syaoran had never felt more nervous under her green eyes' scrutiny, something unnerving about the knowingness in her eyes.

"Will she remember?"

She didn't give him a questioning look, as he'd expected her too, but instead touched a card with a finger, pushing it to the right, and the rest of the cards whirled in the circle with it. "Pick," she told him, "and the card you choose will reveal part of the future."

The cards were still moving around her, and Syaoran hesitantly placed a finger on the back of one card. Sakura picked it up, and her eyes left his tense form to examine the card before touching it. The card's face turned towards Syaoran.

"The Dark," she mused aloud. "There will be confusion, loss of something loved, and chaos."

The card separated from the group and flew to Sakura's hand. Sakura gave the circle of cards another whirl.

"The next card will tell you of your situation."

The atmosphere in the little room was almost stifling, her quiet voice ringing throughout the room. Syaoran didn't hesitate and picked another one as quickly as possible. She gave him a _knowing_ smile before flipping the card over.

"The Maze. You are stuck in something, and every time you make a choice you find yourself back to nowhere."

Amazed, Syaoran watched the picture of the maze on the card shift into another maze as it flew to Sakura's hand, said person absently tucking it underneath her thumb with the first card, watching the cards moving around her of their own will through her magic.

"The card you choose will suggest a path for you to carve yourself." Almost disinterestedly, she watched him touch another card, and both wondered when this would end.

"The Snow." She flipped the card. "A fresh start. Begin again, start anew, because life will go on with or without you."

She smiled at him suddenly. "If I may, would you allow me to pick your last card?"

Surprised, Syaoran nodded. Sakura snapped her fingers and all the cards flipped towards Syaoran, leaving her only being able to see the backs of the cards. They swirled around her, going faster and faster, until she finally picked a card.

She turned it around and smiled wider.

"The Hope – a card of my own creation," she murmured. "Used to help someone along with confessing their feelings."

This time, Sakura directed a smile to Syaoran instead of just at the world in general, the cards falling into a neat little pile in her hand.

"But, we have things to do this life," she said. "I have things to finish, and you do as well. Then, perhaps, we can remember and love."

Syaoran blinked, and within that moment, everything had disappeared, and he was left standing amidst the bustling streets of the market, the little fortunetelling shop he had entered nowhere to be seen, groceries cradled in his arms.

They both would die for the sake of saving the world, and though Sakura had said that perhaps one day they could remember and love, that day wouldn't come.

For that lifetime, at least.

* * *

"_That was kind of unfair. You remembered me!"_

"_But I had things to do, as did you."_

"_Save the world and all that, right? I'm tired of all that…"_

"_You're telling me?_

"_Why, yes, I am."_

"…_I think… that next time… we can be together."_

"_So, whose turn is it?"_

"_Yours."_

"_What? Hey, that's unfair."_

"_Don't complain to me, I'm not the one who's deciding all this."_

"…_See you soon, Sakura."_

"_Yeah, Syaoran. I'll _see_ you soon."

* * *

_

Wow… this was long. Personally, I liked this chapter best. The ideas in this one fascinated me the most, and many were inspired by little things I am writing for other stories or have already written. Like the burning at the stake thing. And the 'thief' idea, and the 'musician' idea.

Note: Sorry people, but next chapter's the last. And then there'll be a very short epilogue.


	5. Chapter 5

"Do you believe in reincarnation?"

Death was coming for her; she could feel it in her old and weary bones. At times she could barely remember who she was – that she was Kinomoto (now Li) Sakura, married to Li Syaoran, the boy that she had once fought with over the Clow Cards (now Sakura Cards).

He took a moment to ponder her question, his brows furrowed in thought. "I'm not sure," he said at length. "Why do you ask?"

Sakura looked away, seeming almost ashamed. "I always hoped for nothing after death," she confessed softly.

Syaoran merely raised an eyebrow in reply.

"Well," she said, looking embarrassed, "sometimes, it's just so _tiring_ being human. Being _alive_."

His eyelids fluttered half-way closed as he thought on that.

"Yes," he said. "I'd have to agree."

* * *

_**Again**_

_A voice amongst the rest, for that is all we are._

_Sleep, sleep, my little child, for when you wake up, nothing will ever be the same again.

* * *

_

A mere fairy tale, some people called it. Others claimed some lunatic had come up with it.

The elders were adamant that the legend was true. Sakura, for one, wasn't sure what to think. Perhaps, maybe, but as long as it was still possible, you couldn't just say it wasn't true without proof.

It was a strange legend – one involving fairies, ghosts, thieves, gods and goddesses, as well as something called 'hospitals', something that was left behind long, long ago. One involving reincarnation.

Personally, Sakura found something in the legend struck a chord in her heart. But then again, that might have been just her being weird.

The girl in the legend was supposed to come to this world (for there were many worlds to visit in this time and age). This girl would have wings like an angel's, soft feathers with curling silver patterns that shimmered with magic.

She snorted as she watched a girl with wings that matched the exact same description above pass by. And then another. Then another.

_Which one?_ she wondered, amusement lingering in her thoughts before she mentally shook her head and focused on the task on hand.

Journalists were hated at times – for being so annoyingly _persistent_. Well, that described Sakura all too well. But she wasn't hated for doing her job, she was loved.

It was so much fun, she thought rather giddily, to uncover those corrupt politicians and lift the veil so everyone could see how horrible human beings could, and would, be.

It was sad at times, too. It was far harder than she had thought it would be. When she looked at the newspaper articles and realized once again that these people had family that was relying on them, that they may not have been all that bad but as life went on…

She didn't even want to think about it.

Sakura took another sip of her coffee, sighing as warmth filled her body. Snow was falling outside and the new year was to begin in a few days.

She stood up and gently placed her coffee cup down once she was done, her dull gold, curling wings fluttering a bit as she did so. She waved at the waitress, Rika, and then she was out into the world of snow.

There was more reporting to do.

~:~*~:~

"You're kidding me," she deadpanned.

There was absolutely _no way_ this was happening.

She began to curse, wondering _why_ she had such horrible luck. Any other person would've considered it good luck, but goddammit, this was bad.

Really, really bad.

She swore words that she most certainly had never heard before, all of the anger and frustration that had been piling up was spewing out of her mouth.

This was at six. _In the morning_. Let's save the "save-the-world" stuff for the evening, please. She was working in the afternoon, but she would rather give up her book for the evening than miss yet another day of work.

Her boss would kill her if she did.

Besides, why her? It wasn't as though she was anything special…

In a lonely apartment building on the top floor was a woman named Kinomoto Sakura. There, on top of the entire city, she fluttered her wings that had suddenly become; "like an angel's, soft feathers with curling silver patterns that shimmered with magic."

…Dammit.

~:~*~:~

Kinomoto Sakura saved the world, as most heroes do. Her story, however, ended a bit differently.

Li Syaoran had never appeared, but he'd always been there, tucked away in the shadows, knowing this was one more world in which they could not remember and love. It is uncertain at what age did he die and how.

Kinomoto Sakura died from laughing too hard and reopening her wounds. The reason why she laughed, however, is what made her story of heroism different.

It is harder than one thinks… to kill a person. The first is the easiest because it happens so quickly. The second time, everything seems to happen so much slower, and you realize that you're taking a person's life.

That person you killed may have had a family, children even. To know you had just taken that away is a horrid feeling.

Insanity had tempted her with promises of being able to forget. And she'd taken that.

To do a good deed for the world does not mean you're doing a good deed for all the individuals out there. You're merely saving the majority and leaving the minority to die.

Being a hero is not nearly as easy as it seems.

* * *

There are stories of romance between humans and vampires, or humans and werewolves.

Oh, the poor, deluded, humans.

Why on earth would a vampire even think to love a human? Humans were prey, _food_. Sure, talking food, but food nonetheless.

"…_What?_" he growled, closing the book shut, teeth bared in a feral snarl.

"I didn't do anything!" the girl protested, looking sulky as she leaned on the chair the boy was sitting on.

He raised an eyebrow at her and stared until she finally gave up.

"Alright, alright! I'm doing something."

The eyebrow was raised higher.

"…okay, so maybe I did something _really bad_ and need you to help me get out of it."

Syaoran sighed and stood up, stretching. "You're always up to something, Eriol."

"Of course I am, Syao-chan," the girl teased in a purposely high voice. "Besides, this has to do with getting rid of your fangirls."

He turned and stared. "You're joking, right? Besides, since when did you start helping me? You hate helping me. At all. In any way."

"I'm acting as your girlfriend," Eriol remarked dryly, twirling a lock of raven hair. "And you wonder why I hate helping you?"

"Blame Mother. I certainly didn't want to pretend to be _your_ boyfriend. You're not even a girl!"

"You sure you aren't gay? Not that I'm against gay people, but really, you certainly act like one."

"I'm not gay! I like girls, and it's really disturbing when I have to act like my hated cousin's boyfriend! _Especially when the aforementioned cousin is a guy!_"

Eriol sniffed regally and turned away, marching off in a fake tantrum. "I thought you liked me, Syao-chan, but I see how it is."

"Don't you have any sense of pride in being a man?" Syaoran shouted after him, but Eriol replied by slamming the door.

"…I hate days like today. Hey, wait, what about getting rid of my fangirls? _You said that you could get rid of my fangirls! Come back here, you!_"

~:~*~:~

"Hello," he greeted. The girl raised an eyebrow.

"Hello," she said. "Good-bye."

"My name is Syaoran."

"I know what your name is. You're that transfer student everyone's been whispering about."

"Really? What do they say?"

"I wouldn't know. After all, I'm not included in 'everyone'."

He frowned. "That's rather sad."

She smiled. "It is." She turned to leave.

"You haven't told me your name yet."

She paused and looked back at him, pushing away auburn bangs and giving him a better look at her sea green eyes.

"It's Sakura."

~:~*~:~

"What do you see?"

"Nothing."

"That is why," she told him. "That is why you must be exterminated."

"I thought you were above this," he said.

"I will do what I must," she replied coldly. "I will do as is needed."

"It's needed to kill me?"

"If you're not alive, how can I kill you?"

A mirror stood mounted before Syaoran and he regarded it with a look of interest. He didn't have a reflection… how _interesting_.

"I would've never thought you a hunter," he said softly.

"I don't like it, but it's who I am. How long have you survived the way you are? Tell me, Syaoran. Tell me how many people have you killed to ensure your survival the way you are."

"I've killed none," he insisted.

"Then how do you live? Vampires live on blood – that is the undisputed fact."

"I don't live," he remarked dryly and smothered his laughter when he saw the annoyed look in her eyes.

"Good-bye," she told him, and then everything disappeared.

* * *

"Do you know what this is?" she asked amiably behind prison bars, tracing the tattoo that was drawn across her arm.

"A tattoo?" he said sarcastically.

"Yes," she said, "and no."

"That's wonderful," he told her. "But I really don't care."

"My tattoo is my prison," she said, ignoring his previous words. "My tattoo is a symbol of what _they_ do to people that they're afraid of."

"_They_ aren't afraid of anything," he recited blankly.

"You're so boring," she complained softly. She received a glare in return.

"Will you help me?" she asked suddenly, her voice shushed. "Will you help me find my Pandora's Box?"

"Why would you want to find it?" he asked, confusion plain on his face. "To find all the things that we abhor and try to keep _away_?"

"We aren't human without emotions," she replied, green eyes bright in the dark, eerily like a cat waiting to pounce on its prey. "We aren't human without _fear_, _anger, _and _sadness_. We aren't human without **hope**."

"You're crazy," he informed her. She grinned.

"I should hope so, if you're the example of normal."

"You're crazy," he repeated. "But I'll help you."

~:~*~:~

"I so didn't sign up for this."

Sakura laughed. He savored the name on his tongue. _Sakura_. Cherry Blossom. Spring. Happiness. Growth.

"You're the one that decided to help me."

He groaned. "I didn't know that in order to find your Pandora's Box I'd have to unlock your magic."

The tattoo that once curled around her arm had disappeared. It had been eerily beautiful, he thought. Glowing silver that practically pulsed with power, curling around her arm like a snake, swirls continuing and ending, it had been frightening, in a way.

"You're just jealous you don't have magic," Sakura deadpanned and laughed as Syaoran groaned.

"You've found your own Pandora's Box," she told him. "But now we're going to have to find the more… _unsavory_ parts of being human."

"I know," he said softly. "I know."

~:~*~:~

Kinomoto Sakura and Li Syaoran overthrew the Council of the Gods and released the largest Pandora's Box that hid the concept of being human away, under lock and key.

They would later on marry and have children and whatnot. Later on as they were old and wrinkled with age they both realized that the other _remembered_. And they'd spent an entire life not even bringing the subject up.

"It's fun to laugh at stupidity," she remarked breathlessly, clinging at her husband's shoulders to balance herself.

"I feel like such an idiot," Syaoran groaned and both laughed.

The next night they would die peacefully in their sleep. Their world would forever remember them as heroes, just as they were in many other worlds.

* * *

_I think we're done, but I'm not quite sure because where does a circle begin?_

_Again and again, the circle hasn't ended if it hasn't begun.

* * *

_

T H E E N D . . . ?

DONE. You guys have no idea how happy I am… I labored over this chapter over and over again and I'm most sincerely not satisfied with it. I feel like… bleh. It's too rushed. I may redo it again one of these days… But don't stop! The epilogue's up, too. And that, my friends, is the end of this little story with even tinier stories within I'll never write.


	6. Epilogue

We treasure love – because it will always be there.

We abhor hate – because it will always be there.

Life is balanced with the "dark" and the "good" – nothing can be done about it.

So live.

* * *

_**Again**_

_Are you ready? Don't lie, because we'll never be ready._

_The end will never come, so let's stop at the middle while we're at it._

* * *

"It's nice to see you."

She smiled sardonically. "You mean, it's nice to see you _here_, and _knowing_ who I am."

He looked around, fingers brushing against the jagged edge of their mixed past lives. "Where exactly is _here_, anyways?"

"The beginning," she said, settling back into some kind of fluffy wall. "The end."

"That's rather contradictory," he mused.

"Of course it is," Sakura replied with an amused smile. "That's how life is."

"Technically, at the moment, we're not alive," he reminded her.

"That's how existence is, then."

"But we'll be alive soon, anyways."

She threw up her hands. "When is _soon_? You know just as well as I that time doesn't go in a straight line, after all those times we skipped around in the timeline we learned about in school."

"Who dictates our lives?" Syaoran asked, frowning. "Who sends us off on our miserable ways?"

"Fate," she murmured. "Destiny. But don't say it as if it's a bad thing."

He smiled gently at her optimism. "Of course."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Don't sound so disbelieving, Syaoran."

"Why aren't we living a life of immortality instead?" he asked. "Why are we going to suffer through this whole damned thing again, even though we've remembered each other and told each other?"

Sakura reached over and put a finger on his cheek. "Because we are mortals," she said. "Because immortality for us is taboo.

"Because this is our choice."

He sighed, all the weariness since forever put into it.

"We're mortals," she reminded him with a smile. "Mortals don't lose hope, even when we're supposed to. We're simply stupid."

"I wouldn't call it stupid," Syaoran grumbled.

"Fate sure thinks so," she shot back.

"Yeah? Well, I don't like fate, destiny, whatever."

"It's beginning," she said abruptly. Their past lives' slate was wiped clean and they were left staring at the beginning of their journey.

"We'll remember this time," she whispered, kissing his cheek.

"Or if not, it'll happen eventually," he whispered back, smiling.

"Don't give up hope."

"I won't, you know that."

"I love you."

His smile broadened. "I love you too."

A soft glow enveloped them both, and soon, they were gone, into a new life, on another journey.

_Let's start from the beginning again, from the starting line, where life begins, where you are neither evil nor good, where you make your own decisions._

_Again, again, again, let's live again._

* * *

_**Again**_

_The end isn't near, but this is the end of my story._

_You are your own fate._

* * *

T H E E N D


End file.
